The Ethno-genesis of the Baltic peoples
Overview This is an attempt to find out the ethnic origins of the Baltic peoples, whether they are the ones of Finnic (Estonians, etc.) or Balt (Latvian, etc.) origins. The time frame is from the first human lived in the region to the rule of Medieval Teutonic Knights. Whist I'm trying to be fair, it is hard to know what is actually correct since so much is just supposition about legends, old manuscripts and ancient artefacts. It is also possible that medieval invaders' accounts are bias towards the aims of groups like the Teutonic Knights and modern accounts are possibly still influence by Nazi pseudoscience and alike. Balt history and arachnology Lithuania Latvia Old Prussia There is patchy nomicultural indications that the pre-Baltic settlers in East Prussia generally named their settlements after the local streams, lakes, seas, or forests by which they settled. The subsiquent clans and tribals then took the name of the place they had settled in. For example, the name "Barta", is "the home of the Barti" and is related to the name of the Bartis River in Lithuania. The variose tribal names of the Prussian tribes apparently areflected the theme of the local landscape and were based on a respect for water, an logical theam since the land dotted with thousands of lakes, streams, and swamps (the Masurian Lake District). To the south, the terrain runs into the Pripet Marshes at the headwaters of the Dnieper River; these have been an effective barrier over the millennia.This dificult to navigate landscape and the Lithuania/Old Prussian fighting sprit helped preserve the Baltic language group as the most ancient in Europe (other old languages include Abanian, Basque, Irish, Welsh and Lapp). Poland's Konrad I, Duke of Masovia , appealed to the Knights to defend his borders and subdue the nighboring pagan Baltic Prussians in 1226. He allowing the fachist Teutonic Knights use of Chełmno Land (Culmerland) as a base for their campaign. Finnic history and arachnology Estonia Ingria Variose Iron Age artefacts and tools made by Kunda culture have been found in Ingria. From about the 750s onwards, Lake Ladoga became a important loction along the former Varangian trade route to Eastern Europe. A Scandinavian Varangian aristocracy developed and would ultimately end up ruleing over Novgorod and Kievan Rus'. In about the 860s, war broke out between both the local Finnic and Slavic tribes, after the Slavic chifetain Vadim the Bold rebelled against Varangian rule. Later the Varangian noble, Rurik resoved the issue. Vepsians They are a long-standing tribe akin to Estonians and Finns that once streched from the borders of southern Finland to the eastern borders of Estonia, Moscow, Ingria and out towards the Samoydic Permyaks in the Ural mountains. They now only have a few onclaves of them left in Ingia, Estonia a western Russia. From archeological studies and the trasing of old place names that they probly lived at least in the valleys of the rivers Sheksna, Suda, Syas, Olonets Karelia, Ingria and Lake Onega. Variouse tomb findings prove that they had contact with Staraya Ladoga, western Finnland area and Meryans and amon other Volga Finnic tribes and after the 12th century their history is connected with the Novgorod Republic and under other Russian principalities. Later on the Vepsians inhabited also Western and Eastern shores of Onega. Acording to early Russian chronicles, they are called "Весь" ('Ves’') and in some Arabic sources they are called 'Wisu'. It is assumed that the Bjarmians were also at least partly Vepsians. From the onwards contact was being made with the Russian tribes. History and arachnology elseware Southern Finland Intrestingly, Finns are closest to Cro-Magnons in terms of anthropological measurements. Pskov Oblast Mogilev Oblast Vitebsk Region Grodno Region Haplogroup DNA results The DNA has become mixed over the years, with the Balts and Finnics being blended with Slavs, Sweeds, Vikings, Roma, Jewish merchants, Baltic Germans and so on. The Human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup N1c1 sub-clade reaches levels of about 60% among Finns and rougly 40% among Lithuanians. The Latvians or Letts (latvieši; laett) have the paternal DNA Haplogroup N1c1 as the most frequent one at 45% of those tested, which also occeres heavly in Finland, northern Siberia and the rest of the Baltic states. The Old Prussians were of the same Baltic oragine as the Latvians and Lithuanias, but are now exstinct as is there language. DNA Haplogroup testing has resently shown evidence of some Baltic people stll living in the former territory around the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, but it they are probaly decendents of Cold War immigrants, anti-Bolshavik exiles and World War II refugees from Latvia and Lithuania. Klaipėda Region is now inhabeted mostly by Lithuanians and Kaliningrad Oblast iks now mostly inhabeted with Russians. Reserch on the N Y-chromosome, the most common haplogroups of the Finns being N1c (58%), I (29%), R1a (7.5%) and R1b (3.5%). Haplogroup N1c, which is found only in a few countries in Europe (Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Sweden, Lappland and parts of Russia), is a subgroup of the haplogroup N (Y-DNA) distributed across northern Eurasia and estimated in a recent study to be 10,000–20,000 years old and suggested to have entered Europe about 12,000–14,000 years ago from Asia. Genetic Haplogroup tests do indicate a small quantity of Baltic DNA in southern Finland, most of which is opposite Ingria and Estonia. It is doubtful that many Balts emigrated to Finland in Mediaeval times and only a few did since the Bolsheviks came to power, since there has been a historicly low population in the Baltic states, which indicates that there was an ancient presence in Finland which was bread in to by Finns when they entered Finland According to an earlier study conducted by four scientists, including Cavalli-Sforza LL: Principal coordinate analysis shows that Lapps/Sami are almost exactly intermediate between people located geographically near the Ural mountains and speaking Uralic languages, and central and northern Europeans. Hungarians and Finns are definitely closer to Europeans. An analysis of genetic admixture between Uralic and European ancestors shows that Lapps/Sami are slightly more than 50% European, Hungarians are 87% European, and Finns are 90% European. There is basic agreement between these conclusions and historical data on Hungary. Less is known about Finns and very little about Lapps/Sami. Also see *Russians living in Latvia *The Jewish Holocaust and Roma Porajmos in the Baltic states *Old Prussia Category:Ethnic issues